Ivory Getting Revamped To Stay Afloat In Competitive Market

The consumer products company this month is updating the signature white soap packages for the 132-year-old Ivory brand with colorful, eye-catching packages, a remade logo and a new marketing campaign. But the soap itself isn't changing, nor is P&G's basic message for it.

"The heritage has always been about purity, and the fact that it does what it says it's going to do," said Kevin Hochman, a P&G marketing director. "It cleans really well."

The remake is part of an effort by the Cincinnati-based company to breathe new life into Ivory. It comes at a time when Americans are scaling back on spending in the down economy, but are looking for little, cheap ways to pamper themselves, by say, taking a long, hot shower. As P&G has focused on bigger, faster-growing brands, the white bar of soap has lagged behind its rival Dove and faced increasing competition from the likes of Dial and Irish Spring.

Ivory isn't among the 24 brands with at least $1 billion in annual sales at P&G, which in recent years has sold off several venerable brands, including Crisco shortening and Sure deodorant. But the soap that floats has a long history with the company.

Ivory was the first brand mass-marketed by P&G. It is the namesake of a P&G research and production center called "Ivorydale." It's deeply entrenched in American pop culture as a sponsor of early television soap operas and the first televised major league baseball game. It even is a part of training of new marketing employees at P&G, who can learn about how Ivory reached consumers before mass media with free samples, children's coloring books and recipe booklets.

"Ivory is where our origins are," Hochman said. "It has a special place in a lot of people's hearts around here. It's incredibly important to keep it alive and growing."